Re: Alpha Linux & NT 3.51

Ralf Baechle (ralf@waldorf-gmbh.de)
17 Aug 1995 11:40:34 GMT

In article <199508162336.QAA28591@ami.atnet.net>, pgwduane@ami.atnet.net (Duane Sessions) writes:
|> I just recently (1 day now) moved from the x86 world to the Alpha world. I
|> have always enjoyed running Linux on the x86. I would like to be able to
|> run it on my new Alpha; however, I still must be able to boot Windows NT
|> 3.51. How difficult would it be to switch between the Arc console & the srm
|> console to run these two operating systems. I purchased my system from
|> Carrera Computer in CA, so it is using a Cabriolet MB at 200 Mhz.
|>
|> Is any of this possible? Any guidance and help would be greatly appreciated.

I'd like to suggest you another thing. The bootloader Milo for the Linux/Alpha
seems (I don't have an Alpha nor do I track the Alpha project very closly) only
to support the SRM firmware. But I wrote the bootloader Milo (yes, the same
name. Purely random, I swear!) for the Linux/MIPS systems running an ARC
firmware conforming to the MS specification. As I assume that the ARC firmware
in both systems is quite compatible and the assembler part in the MIPS / ARC
version of MILO is very low it shouldn't be to hard to change the bootloader
to support the Alpha. Just as proof - Milo itself is based on an old version of
the Linux/68k bootloader for the Amiga. That way booting from the ARC console
either one or another OS would be very convenient. If I however should have
based this posting on a wrong assumption about the ARC firmware for Alphas just
forget this posting.

Ralf